Disney World has created many beautiful attractions to entertain, and they extended that creativity to their deluxe hotels with hotel themes. However, like every business with many big ideas, the people behind Disney World had some ideas that were planned but fell through due to certain circumstances and incidents beyond their control. Here are four of Disney World’s deluxe theme park hotels you’ve never had the pleasure of staying in:
Mediterranean Theme Hotel
The Mediterranean Resort was going to be a deluxe theme hotel that would rival Disney World’s Grand Floridian. It would have opened and operated in the late 1990s, and the theme of it was proposed to be a small Greek island on the Seven Seas Lagoon. However, because of swampy and poor ground samples and the need to have an extremely deep foundation for the building, this Disney World theme hotel never got built. If it had been built, it would have been located between the the Contemporary Resort nearby the bridge and the Transportation and Ticket Center.
Asian Theme Hotel
Disney’s Asian Resort deluxe theme hotel was designed in the 1960s and scheduled to open in 1974. The theme for it was inspired by the culture of Thailand, with plans for Thai cuisine and furniture inside. Land was actually set aside for this resort hotel during the construction of the Seven Seas Lagoon; that land eventually housed Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort in 1988. The Disney World’s Asian resort project, which was to have 500 rooms with garden and lake views and fifty deluxe suites themed after the Thai royal family, got canceled due to the 1973 oil crisis.
The Persian Resort deluxe theme hotel was going to be located on the Bay Lake shores, on the west side, with a monorail leading to it and through Tomorrowland. The plans for this project involved a white and blue-colored resort laid out in a circle with a central building. This main building would have had a 24 foot dome over the entrance area and meeting places. This resort was also canceled due to the oil crisis in 1973.
Venetian Theme Hotel
Disney World’s Venetian Resort was a deluxe theme hotel that would have opened in October of 1971. The theme of it was Venice, Italy and it would have been located between the Contemporary Resort and the Transportation and Ticket Center where the Mediterranean hotel is currently, on Seven Seas Lagoon. (In fact, when Michael Eisner saw how well the Grand Floridian hotel was doing and opted to build an even better hotel, plans for the Venetian Resort were scrapped and replaced with the Mediterranean). Like the Asian and Persian Disney World theme hotels, this deluxe hotel was scrapped due to the oil crisis.
So the next time you find yourself staying at one of Disney World’s theme hotels, take an extra look around and really appreciate your new living space for the next few days. If things had been different, you may have never gotten to enjoy the pleasure.
